Covington ramping up for massive $72M makeover

City readies 5-year, top-to-bottom project to jump-start residential, business growth

Dec. 20, 2013

Brent Cooper, president of C-FORWARD, sits on a decorative bench set on pavers in the sidewalk on the northeast corner of Fifth Street and Madison Avenue, Covington, in April. The city was set to make similar improvements to the area outside his company's building, which is on the southwest corner of the intersection. / The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy

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Aimed at drawing attention to The Ascent and other real estate projects, the slogan was eventually retired. But things are, once more, “happening” across Northern Kentucky’s largest city.

Signs of progress are everywhere: freshly poured sidewalks, new and more inviting streetscapes, and vacant lots where blighted buildings had once stood, ignored for years.

Even more is in store during the coming year, as the city ramps up a five-year, $72 million plan to invest in infrastructure, neighborhood revitalization and economic development.

The goal is to jump-start residential and business growth and prepare for the future.

“It’s more than just a specific set of projects over the next five years,” City Manager Larry Klein told Covington business leaders Thursday. “It’s really about an outlook. We want to create a sea change about how the city looks at its future.”

It’s a top-to-bottom approach, from replacing deteriorated sidewalks to finally revitalizing the riverfront. When it’s finished, Covington could look and feel like a new city.

It all starts with some badly needed cosmetic changes.

Since July, about $10 million has already been invested in a massive sidewalk improvement initiative, beginning in South Covington and Latonia and working north. The city is replacing every single sidewalk block with more than 25 percent deterioration. In the coming years, it may also pour brand-new sidewalks where none exist now.

Streetscape improvements are coming to the Sixth Street and Scott Street corridors similar to the recent makeovers on Madison Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where new lighting, seating and underground utilities have made a world of difference. The improvements could also be made to the Roebling Point and Pike Street corridors in the coming years.

Perhaps the biggest sign of progress, however, is the demolition of hundreds of vacant, abandoned residential structures.

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The blight-fighting project began earlier this year; 50 structures have been torn down so far and 250 more are slated for demolition over the next five years, putting a big dent in the city’s stock of more than 800 abandoned properties.

City officials are working with neighborhood groups and property owners to decide what to do with the newly available lots scattered throughout the city.

And the riverfront will finally get some new life, with a multipurpose path planned along the Ohio River as part of the broader Riverfront Commons project by Southbank Partners.

“We’ve talked about riverfront development for years and years,” said Larisa Sims, assistant city manager for development. “The fact is, now we are actually going to do it.”

Federal and state grants will pay for part of some elements of the five-year plan. But most of the money will come from city coffers – without raising taxes.

The city has made a series of strategic cost-cutting moves over the past two years, many of them under former Mayor Chuck Scheper. Police, fire and public workers’ unions agreed to health care concessions that will save the self-insured city $2.45 million annually. Consolidating emergency dispatch services with the county will save another $1 million per year. And a top-to-bottom reorganization of City Hall will save $1 million annually.

“This (city) commission, and the last commission, made some tough decisions, and this is the fruit of that labor,” Klein told Covington Business Council members on Thursday.

Following through on plans has never been Covington’s strong suit, and business leaders are happy to see some action being taken now.

“Businesses want to see leadership on the city’s part. People want to see progress, in a city that has talked about doing things for decades and not followed through. They want to see dirt turned,” said Pat Frew, executive director of the business council.

Now that dirt is being turned, both literally and figuratively.

“I’m more hopeful and optimistic for the city than I’ve ever been,” Frew said. ⬛